Blind Football Gives Mexican Women a New Path to Empowerment.

Mexico is preparing to make history as it sends its first-ever women’s blind football team to an international competition.

The Chilangas FC, a women’s blind football team based in Mexico City, will represent the country at the Women’s Blind Football American Championship, known as the Copa America, in Brazil next month.

The team includes players with partial or complete visual impairment. During matches, players wear eye masks so that everyone competes without sight. They rely on a specially designed football containing internal rattles, as well as verbal instructions from teammates and coaches, to locate the ball and coordinate their movements.

For 31-year-old Pau Hernandez, football has become more than a sport. Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa as a child, Hernandez gradually lost her sight and became completely blind four years ago.

She had always loved football, but her visual impairment made playing difficult. After joining Chilangas FC, she discovered a new sense of confidence and fulfilment.

“When I'm on the pitch, it's as if I can see,” Hernandez said, explaining how sound, communication and trust help her navigate the game.

Chilangas FC was founded in 2020 by coach Wendy del Rio after she noticed that women with visual impairments had few opportunities to play football. By 2023, she had assembled the club’s first group of players.

Mexico currently has only six women’s blind football teams, and the sport continues to face significant challenges, including limited funding, a lack of dedicated facilities and difficulties organising regular training and competitions.

Women’s blind football is also not yet included in the Paralympic Games, unlike the men’s version, which made its Paralympic debut in 2004.

Beyond sporting facilities, players face social and cultural barriers. Families can discourage women with disabilities from participating in contact sports, while women are often expected to devote more time to household and caregiving responsibilities.

Hernandez says the biggest obstacles are not necessarily caused by blindness but by society’s assumptions about what blind women can achieve.

Despite navigating crowded buses, broken pavements and other accessibility challenges in Mexico City, she continues to attend training while working as a massage therapist and raising her six-year-old son.

Another Chilangas FC player, 20-year-old Alexandra Ramirez, says the team has given her a sense of belonging.

“Being here feels like having a family,” Ramirez said.

The players are now preparing for their historic appearance in Brazil. For Hernandez, however, the tournament represents more than a sporting opportunity. One of her biggest dreams is for her young son to watch her play and congratulate her after the match.

For the Chilangas FC, football is becoming a platform to challenge stereotypes, build confidence and show that visual impairment does not have to prevent women from pursuing their ambitions.

• Tweet
• Share
• Share
• Share
• Share